If Things Changed
by wheredoesithurt
Summary: Post Order. Ginny's disarms Bellatrix when Sirius falls into the Veil. How does this change her life and things with Harry? She's a hero. And Harry's seeing her in a new light. But is that how she wants him to fall in love with her?
1. Disarming Bellatrix LeStrange

As Sirius's body flew backwards into the Veil, Harry's knees buckled from underneath him, causing him to fall to the floor in despair as Bellatrix's laughter echoed throughout the Department of Mysteries. Then, in victorious stature, Bellatrix turned away, intent on giving her piece of mind - her sarcastic, cold retaliation of words about her cousin's timely death - and smirked.

Ginny had only two thoughts in her mind. 1. Harry. The desire to run to his aid flooded her body. The guilt, the grief, the sadness tightened at her throat, and she knew that if she was feeling this bad, she couldn't even begin to imagine what the person she loved most in this world must be feeling.

And 2. Bellatrix, whose smirk she wanted more than anything to slap off her disgusting, pathetic face. The woman opened her mouth, and without thinking, Ginny pulled her wand to aim and shouted out the words that first came to her head.

With dark eyes, Bellatrix fixed her attention on Ginny instead, obviously displeased, and yet, clearly entertained. The spell was easily deflected with a flick of her wand.

"Bat Bogey, hm? Is that the best you've got, Weasley?" she said, her voice dripping of satisfaction. "Come on then, let's see what you've got."

Bellatrix smiled, raising her wand at the ready. Anger overtook her body as Ron pushed his in front of hers, protecting her. Harry, none the wiser, stared into the Veil as if his entire world was lost, which only enraged Ginny further.

"If you want to hurt Ginny, then you've got to get through me first," Ron said, his voice loud but shaky. Ginny could clearly hear the worry in his face.

Bellatrix laughed again. "As you wish," she said eloquently, raising an eyebrow, and before Ginny could move, a spell was uttered from her lips and Ron's body was thrown across the room.

Hermione screamed as she moved away from Harry and raced toward Ron's unconscious body.

With her attention currently on the Trio, Ginny made her move. Quickly and in a burst of sparks, Ginny's spell impacted against Bellatrix's chest, throwing her body into the wall behind her, knocking her unconscious.

Ginny only vaguely heard her name as a series of pops surrounded the room. Her vision darkened, and the last thing she remembered was the sound of her mother rushing towards her, calling out her name in panic.

"Ginny."

The voice came in from a distance, her mind and vision foggy as she struggled to keep her eyes open. The image in front of her cleared.

"Mum?" Her voice came out raspy and she cleared it. Her head was killing her, but she couldn't remember why.

"Oh, Ginny, you're okay," her mother gushed as she enveloped her only daughter into a hug.

"What happened?" she asked.

She looked around the room then. She was in her bedroom, she noticed, recognizing the purple wallpaper and the feel of her twin sized bed easily.

She didn't dare move. Her body and her head were killing her.

"Ginny, you did it," her mother said with pride, her face glowing, before it contorted into an expression of anger. "And how incredibly dangerous, Ginny, what on earth were you thinking? I ought to ground you for the entire summer!"

She noticed for the first time that Ron and Hermione were sitting behind her mother. Ron was grinning as he spoke for the first time, ignoring his mother.

"I can't believe it," Ron said. It wasn't the first time he'd said it in the last few hours. "My sister!" he directed towards Hermione. "Disarmed Bellatrix LeStrange. Brilliant. Bloody brilliant!"

"Ronald Weasley!

Despite her mother's sputtering, Ginny's eyes widened. "You mean, my spell actually hit her?" she asked, beginning to remember for the first time.

She saw the veil in her head, Bellatrix's laughter, Harry's mourning. "How?"

"Because you're bloody brilliant!" Ron said, gloating. "My sister, can you believe it?"

Mrs. Weasley spluttered again, but ignored it. "Oh, Ginny, you were so strong," she gushed, smiling as she stroked her daughter's hair.

"But how?" Ginny asked again. "And where is she now? And Harry? Where is Harry?"

"Shh, Ginny," her mother said as she tucked the blankets around her daughter's small form. "Don't overwork yourself. Everything's fine. Bellatrix is in the Order's hands now."

Ginny nodded. "But Harry? Is he alright?"

Nobody answered for a moment until Hermione stood up from her chair. "I'm glad you're okay, Ginny. We were really worried," she said softly. "I'm going to go check on Harry."

With that, she left the room.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked.

Ron looked down at his feet. "Harry's locked himself in my room. Won't talk to anyone."

"Why?"

She didn't know why she asked, but she wanted to know for sure. She knew that losing somebody so close to you was bound to hurt, but Harry was strong, wasn't he? He could get through anything.

"When Sirius-" Ron stopped himself and cleared his throat.

Ginny's mother stepped in. "He's having trouble coping, dear. Just think if you lost one of your brothers. I want you both to try and understand what he's going through. No acting up. He's going to need time to recover and he's going to need support."

They both nodded and Mrs. Weasley stood up. "I'm going to go put lunch on. No getting out of bed just yet for you, Ginny. You need your rest."

Ginny groaned as her mother closed the door behind her. Ron moved his chair closer to her bed.

"Mum won't admit this," he started,. "Because she's afraid you'll want to go off and do something stupid, but everyone's talking about what happened, what you did. Disarming Bellatrix was the best thing that's happened to us since You-Know-Who came back, Ginny. That's what the Order's saying. They're thinking this is going to help tip the scales onto our side."

"You really think so?" Ginny asked, hopeful.

Ron nodded. "It was bloody brilliant, Ginny."

"You said that already, Ron," Ginny said, giving a small smile.

"It was!" he insisted. "You're a hero, Ginny. I bet even Harry thinks so."

She blushed at the thought. It wasn't that she still liked him. But having Harry Potter's opinion on things changed a lot about how you looked at yourself. It meant something. And Harry Potter meant a lot to her, whether she dared to admit it or not.

"I don't really feel like a hero," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

Ron just smiled. "Bloody brilliant," he said again. "My sister! Can't believe it!"

A/N: New story. Haven't written anything in a very long time. An unbelievably long time. What do you think? Should I continue? Let me know!


	2. Convincing Harry

Ginny woke up and looked at the clock. Past noon. Groaning, she got out of her bed and got dressed, wondering why her mother hadn't woke her up.

It felt like it had been weeks since the Department of Mysteries incident, when in fact, it had only been a day. Her memory was still foggy. She remembered casting the curse and then nothing. Darkness. Why had she fainted? She couldn't understand.

Downstairs, she was greeted by the smell of food. Fred and George were waiting for, identical grins on their identical faces.

"Ginny!"

"Our dear sister!"

Fred and George looked at each other then, eyebrows raised.

"Defeater of all evil?"

George nodded. "I would say so, brother. Hero of the decade even!"

Rolling her eyes, Ginny pushed past them. "Real funny, guys."

They walked with her to the kitchen, still grinning. Fred pushed past his brother until he was in front of Ginny, walking backwards.

"Honestly, Ginny, you were amazing. Who would have thought you'd be good at anything!'

At Ginny's hurt expression, George chimed in. "Kidding, of course, Gin. We knew you were bound to do great things. Magnificent things!"

They both laughed, leaving her at this point to sit down at the table. She pushed past the annoyance at their immature comments and sat down at the table next to Ron, who was, of course, shoveling food down his throat. Hermione sat across from him along with Fred and George as her mother bustled around the kitchen, cooking.

"Good morning, Ginny!" she said distantly.

"Morning." She looked around the table again. "Where's Harry?"

Hermione blanched and Ron spoke past the food in his mouth. "Stuck up in my room. Wouldn't even come out for food! Can you believe it?"

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. "Harry's going through something you wouldn't understand right now. Can you even imagine how he feels? Of course he's not thinking about food! You should be supporting him."

Ron rolled his eyes. "I am!" he said in his defense. "But there's only so much a bloke can do, Mione. I can't get through to him!"

Hermione sighed. "These things take time, Ron."

Ginny ignored them as a bowl of soup was set in front of her. "Thanks Mum," she said, and when her mother disappeared, she turned to Ron.

"Has the Order said anything about Bellatrix?" she asked in hushed tones, hoping her mother or Fred and George, who were conspiring on the other side of table, couldn't hear her.

Ron shook his head and Ginny sighed.

She wanted to know what was going on for once. For Merlin's sake, she was the one who disarmed her! Shouldn't she have a right to be a part of this just as much as anyone else?

"I want to be a part of this, too, Ron," she said, holding her head up high. She wasn't going to let anyone stop her from joining the fight.

Ron shook his head again. "Ginny, just because you fought and won this one time doesn't mean you could do it again. You're not trained enough."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're one year older than me, Ron. What makes you think you're any more trained than I am?"

Ron shrugged, swallowing his food and looking at her seriously. "Look, Ginny, you just can't, okay? You're my little sister. So, no. End of story."

Ginny looked next to Ron. "Hermione?"

Hermione looked back and forth between the two and sighed. "I don't know, Ginny."

Ginny's jaw clenched. "Fine."

That being said, she stood up from the table. If they wouldn't listen to her, she knew of one person who she might be able to convince.

Harry.

* * *

She knocked briefly on his door, but there was nothing. Silence.

"Harry?" she called.

She knocked again.

Finally, she heard a distant. "Yeah?"

Sighing, she turned the knob. It was locked. "Can I come in?"

She heard him rustle around the room to unlock the door. When she opened it, she noticed the room was unusually dark. There was a blanket over the window, covering the sunlight trying to pour in to the tiny upstairs bedroom. Harry looked as if he hadn't gotten out of bed in days.

She felt guilty then. For what he was going through. But to be honest, she couldn't understand it. It had been a long time since she lost anyone close to her. When she was seven, she lost her great Aunt Margaret, but they weren't exactly close. In fact, Ginny always felt kind of awkward around her.

But still, that was the closest she had come to losing anyone. It wasn't like she was close to Sirius. Seeing somebody die though... it wasn't pleasant. It made her feel dark inside.

She knew that was nothing to how Harry was feeling though.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, clasping her hands together in front of her awkwardly as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Fine," he grumbled as he sat on his bed. "Was there something you wanted?"

It was almost hurtful the way he was talking to her and as much as she wanted to huff, tell him off for being a jackass and leave, she knew she was here for a reason and hoped he wasn't thinking clear at the moment.

"Actually, yeah," she said, her voice low. "I was thinking... and I've decided I want to fight."

"No," he said. Just like that. And then he turned away, rummaging through some books he had on his bed.

"You didn't even hear me out!" she said, protesting, angry.

He turned to look at her. "You're my best friend's sister, Ginny. He'd kill me if I let you fight. Not to mention, you're... I don't know. You're not old enough."

"Bollocks!" she spluttered and his eyes widened. They hadn't spoken much in the past, but she was sure he had never seen this side of her. It fact, it was probably the most they had talked ever in her life. "I'm almost as old as you are. And I want to fight. There's nothing you can do to stop me."

Harry sighed. "Ginny, please, I don't want to do this now. I want to sleep."

"No," she said stubbornly and when Harry raised an eyebrow, she blushed. "I mean, I have something to say and so you're going to listen for once. I'm not backing down from this. When I say I want to fight, I mean it, Harry Potter. I'm tired of letting you all walk all over me and telling me what to do. I'm fifteen years old for Merlin's sake. I have just as much right as you do."

He looked at her, his eyes wide.

"I'm sorry," she said suddenly. "I don't mean to yell at you, Harry. But now's the time for all of us to band together and train. Why are we all sitting around letting Voldemort affect us like this? Wasn't it you who said we were better than him? That we could defeat him? Well I don't know about you, but what happened that day, it motivated me. I'm not going to stand around and let some dark wizard ruin my life. Are you?"

She had no idea where all that courage came from, but she didn't regret it. Harry stared at her for a moment, seemingly lost in thought before nodding.

"You're right, Ginny," he said softly and her eyes widened.

"I am?" she asked, shocked that he even agreed with her. Was this a plot to get her to leave? To get her to stop annoying him?

He nodded. "My godfather died," he said. She saw him wince at this and his face contorted into one of pain, almost as if he was trying not to cry. She felt sorry for him then. She didn't know what to do, but she didn't have time to think it over as he continued. "I'm not going to let anyone else die, because of me, because of Voldemort. Including you."

She heard the hidden meaning in his sentence. He was still going on about not letting her fight. Although, her words did seem to get to him.

"Well, I'm fighting," she said defiantly, her chin jutted in the air and her arms crossed. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

He sighed, shaking his head.

"And I think it'd be a good idea if we started training and took our lives back. Nobody's going to control me anymore. Not even Voldemort. I don't care what we have to do, Harry. I'm tired of everyone living in fear. I want to do something about it."

Harry looked at her seriously, his eyes still dark. Something must have got to him though, she thought, noticing a slight change in his demeanor.

"What kind of training?" he asked.

And she knew she had him convinced as a grin swept over her face.

* * *

A/N: I'm so glad you guys like it so far! I'm really inspired right now so I'm writing up a storm for this story and an original. More to come tomorrow, I hope. Let me know your opinion. Think I should continue? Have any ideas you'd like to see happen in the story? Let me know! :)


	3. Meeting Michael

Ginny Weasley sat at table in the Library surrounded by former DA members. With the Trio's training schedule, and among the other things they were doing that they wouldn't let Ginny in on, Harry had almost no time for DA meetings.

It had been almost a week since they had gotten to Hogwarts. Almost a week since she caught Ron and Harry fighting over her. Of course Ron was upset when he found out Harry was letting Ginny join the fight.

That is, until Harry politely informed Ron to "let her have her glory, Ron. What she did with Bellatrix... You'd feel the same way if you were in her shoes. I'm not really going to let her fight."

Ginny's hopes had fallen that day when she ran from where she was hiding on the second floor of the Burrow and cried. She had finally thought that this whole thing with Bellatrix would convince people to treat her like she was worthy of something, like she wasn't just a kid anymore.

And Harry had lied to her. She should have known. But at least they were letting her train with them.

That still didn't help the feeling inside of her that was screaming at her to do something. Ever since that night... she had this motivation, this courage. She felt like they could do it... really do it. They could defeat Voldemort's army.

And if she had to enlist in another group of members to get this done, then she was.

Luna sat across from her at the table next to Neville, researching defense spells, when a sixth year Ravenclaw walked in the door.

"Ginny Weasley," he drawled, smiling, and Ginny turned her head, eyes wide.

He was absolutely gorgeous with dirty blonde hair that hung into his bright, blue eyes. And he was tall. Oh Merlin was he tall. Ginny felt herself falling as she nodded at him.

"Everyone's talking about you," he said.

Ginny paled. "Why? What are they saying?"

He looked at her oddly, raising an eyebrow. "Bellatrix LeStrange."

Ginny's mouth formed an O-shape as the color flooded back to her cheeks. "Oh."

Shaking his head, he continued. "Anyway, I was wondering if I could join your club."

At this, Neville raised his head from his notes, staring at the Ravenclaw suspiciously. "What makes you think we have a club?"

"Cho Chang told me."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Of course. Well, it's not up to me. It's up to everyone. We'll have to vote on it first. Why do you want to join anyway?"

The sixth year looked at her seriously. "I want to be on the right side when all this goes down. And if you can beat Bellatrix, anyone can, right? And I think I can help."

She clenched her jaw, but nodded. Of course. Nobody believed she could actually do anything more powerful than the rest. No, if Ginny Weasley could attempt something and succeed, then bloody hell, it must have been easy to accomplish!

"Who votes?"

All five hands at the table rose in the air, and she sighed. "You're in."

He smiled at her then. "Thank you."

"It's nothing," she said. "But you'll have to sign our contract. Nobody else can know about the DA, understood?"

Nodding, he enveloped her in a hug that made her feel dizzy and warm all at the same time. Forgetting everything he had said previously, she tried to hide the grin that was attempting to control her face.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry Potter passing by the Library, looking in at her, a confused expression on his face.

She pushed the sixth year away from her gently, sighing. Of course Harry Potter would have walked by at just that moment. With her luck, he'd never see her as anything but a friend or that girl who dated everyone in the school.

"The name's Michael, by the way."

Great, she thought. Another reminder of her ex.

Ginny forced a smile anyway. "Welcome to the DA."

* * *

With the DA, class, and training, Ginny felt herself crumbling under all the stress. She hadn't slept in days, it felt like. At least she wasn't being ignored anymore, she thought. One positive for the year. And with Luna and Neville hanging around, she never really felt alone.

But she still longed to finally be included in the Trio. They were keeping something from her, she knew. She could tell by the way they would hush quickly whenever she walked by them. Maybe they were planning something. She wanted to figure it out.

As she walked into the Great Hall for lunch, her books barely secure in her arms as her book bag strap had broke earlier in the week, a group of second years came up to her, all whispering and gossiping.

"Ginny, how did you do it?" One of them asked and the rest of the girls started giggling.

She raised an eyebrow. "Do what?" She so did not need this right, not when she was piles high lost in homework and research. All she wanted to do was get something to eat quickly and then head to the Library. Where was Luna when she needed her?

Another one of the second years piped up. "Stun Bellatrix LeStrange."

"So amazing," another one whispered as the girl next to her nodded. "I can't believe she did it."

This had been the usual for Ginny since she had come back to Hogwarts. All the Slytherins hated her and all the Gryffindors praised her. Not that she minded, of course. It made her feel good for once, like she had done something great that nobody else could do.

"I-" she blanked. "I don't know."

She saw that Harry had just sat down next to Ron and Hermione when his head turned, obviously tuning in to her conversation.

Oh Merlin, she thought. Not now, Harry.

"How can you not know?" another asked.

She was starting to feel all panicky. Her heart was racing and her palms were sweaty. The books began slipping from her arms.

Ginny shook her head. "I just don't know, okay?" she snapped. "I just saw that Harry was hurt and I got mad. That's all."

The group seemed disappointed with her answer yet intrigued as Harry's name was mentioned.

"Do you like Harry Potter?" one asked and the others followed along in more giggles.

Ginny paled. Oh Merlin, she thought again. The books were slipping and Harry was watching. She couldn't answer it, she thought. I must look like such a fool right now.

It was at this time that the book slipped from her arms and that sixth year Ravenclaw, Michael, came in beside her, picking up her books and looking at her, eyebrows raised and a smile on his face.

"I think these might be too heavy for you," he said.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. Harry was still watching and she wished Michael would just go away.

"They slipped," she said pathetically. "And I was perfectly fine without you showing up."

He ignored this and looked toward the group of second years. "Sorry, kids, question time's over. Don't you all have class to get to?"

They all groaned and he smirked, looking at Ginny.

"Here, I'll walk you to class."

She looked back over at the table the Trio had been sitting at, but they were gone. She huffed.

"Fine."

* * *

A/N: Another chapter. Not much Harry interaction, but I can say that the next chapter will have some Harry/Ginny progress. :)


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